Kekko Kamen
Kekko Kamen (けっこう仮面, Kekkō Kamen?, sometimes romanized as Kekkou Kamen, Kekko Masked, Mask of Kekkou or Mask the Kekkou, and translated as Splendid Mask) is originally a shōnen manga series from Japanese creator Go Nagai, which spawned an OVA series and several live-action films. The manga series is about the misadventures of a student named Mayumi Takahashi who attends a boarding school called Toenail of Satan's Spartan Institute of Higher Education that is run by sexual predators. The teachers are constantly looking for ways to torture or humiliate the students, and from this the teachers derive sexual satisfaction. Takahashi's only protection is from a mysterious figure known as Kekko Kamen. Plot The main character lurks around a corrupt, misogynistic "high education" high school called the Sparta Academy (スパルタ学園, suparuta gakuen?), where the penalty for any student (usually girls) making the slightest mistake is being sexually humiliated by the perverted teachers running the school, the mastermind being a demonic, jester -like villain named "Toenail of Satan". Before the teachers take their sexual advances too far, Kekko Kamen breaks in and beats up the bad guy before performing a finishing attack by jumping into the air and landing crotch-first onto the opponent's face. In the anime, the impact causes him to lose consciousness. Sprawled unconscious on the floor, the villain usually has a smile on his face. In the manga, Kekko Kamen often kills the villains with her crotch attack, or with a hit from her nunchaku. Characters *'Kekko Kamen' (けっこう仮面, kekkō kamen?) A mostly nude female superhero dressed only in a red, rabbit-eared mask, with matching gloves, scarf, and boots. She uses her body to distract the usually male enemy teacher that she fights in order to protect the young student Mayumi Takahashi. She fights with a graceful and acrobatic martial arts style, as well as often using weapons to aid her, such as nunchaku and a bo staff. Kekko Kamen's finishing move, the Pubic Hair Jump (おっぴろげジャンプ - Oh Piroge Jump), involves her leaping into the air and spreading her legs, distracting her enemy with her groin, and crashing into his face. The impact and distraction causes him to lose consciousness. Many young women get suspected of being the heroine. In the last chapter of the manga, she is revealed to be six sisters who have been among the students and teachers, taking the role in shifts to avoid suspicion. This all culminates in a final battle with the evil principal and his minions, in which all six sisters assume the mantle of the heroine at the same time and take them down. *'Mayumi Takahashi' (高橋真弓, takahashi mayumi?) A young, first year student at the Sparta Academy. Mayumi is an innocent and good natured, yet somewhat dimwitted girl, whose bad grades often land her in the school's torture chamber, where she is subjected to humiliating punishments. However, before the teachers are about to completely violate her, Kekko Kamen always manages to burst in and save the day. Her hero's constant rescuing of her has filled Mayumi with a deep amount of affection for her, and she often wonders whom the masked heroine could really be. *'Toenail of Satan' (サタンの足の爪, satan no ashi no tsume?) The main villain, the wicked principal of the Academy, who dresses in a fearsome white demon mask and jester hood. He is extremely perverted and obtains satisfaction from sexually humiliating the female student body, especially Mayumi Takahashi. This often brings him into conflict with Kekko Kamen, whose secret identity he wishes to uncover. To accomplish this, he brings out various punishment councillors to publicly humiliate Takahashi, using her as bait to bring the naked warrior of justice out in the open. However, he always manages to be defeated by her. He also appears in Maboroshi Panty, as well. *'Chigusa Yuka' (結花千草, yuka chigusa?) A shy, introverted second year student. After Mayumi sees her bare body during a plan to catch Kekko Kamen, she believes that this girl is in fact her hero. However, what Mayumi and the rest of the school doesn't know Chigusa is actually hiding a different secret: she is actually twins named Chigusa and Yuka, who mysteriously enrolled in the school under the identity of one student. *'Keiko Natsuwata' (夏綿けい子, natsuwata keiko?) The tough, masculine Physical Education teacher who is an expert at various styles of fighting techniques, sports, and with many types of weapons. For this reason, the principal suspected that she was actually Kekko Kamen, and began to humiliate her. This theory was disregarded when Kekko Kamen jumped in to rescue her. *'Koichi Omote' (面光一, omote kōichi?) A supposedly first year male student, who is in the same class as Mayumi. However, another student uncovered that he was actually a female in disguise. This prompted the Principal to believe that she was Kekko Kamen. When her true gender was unveiled, Keiko suddenly rushed in to save her, and confessed that she was Koichi's older sister. Both sisters were then captured and tortured until Kekko Kamen came to their rescue. After this revelation, Koichi continues to be a valuable friend and ally to Mayumi. *'Ai Sakai' (酒井愛, sakai ai?) A young student who is positively infatuated with Kekko Kamen, and is inspired to become a heroine of justice herself. So, armed with a rapier, she becomes the mostly nude, caped, swashbuckling hero with a ribbon covering her crotch known as Ribbon no Shishi (リボンの獅子). However, on her first attempt to combat the evil of the school, Ai finds herself in danger. Fortunately, Kekko Kamen comes to her rescue. After this incident, Ai continued to appear sporadically throughout the manga as a supporting character. *'Kaori Wakatsuki' (若月香織, wakatsuki kaori?) The very attractive school nurse. After Kekko Kamen's thigh is injured in a battle, the villain traces her to the infirmary, and confronts Kaori, ripping off her clothing in an attempt to find the scar, only to realize it wasn't there. Kekko then appeared with a bandage on and rescued her. *'Kei Kurenai' (紅恵, kurenai kei?) A red-haired, chain smoking, tough as nails third year student and gang leader. But beneath her brash exterior, she may be concealing something. *'Teacher Ben' A perverted, insane, abusive, sadistic, mad scientist teacher who works for Toenail of Satan. He always punishes Mayumi Takahashi for failing on her grades and always gets defeated by Kekko Kamen. Production Kekko Kamen is a female superhero whose costume consists solely of red boots, gloves, scarf and a mask with long bunny-like ears. Her fighting style is graceful, and her finishing move involves driving the opponent to the ground with a flying headscissors takedown which presses her groin into the victim's face. While regularly considered as a hentai series, it doesn't have many explicit sexual situations, neither in the manga, anime or live-action series, though there is abundant female nudity in all of them. Kekko Kamen is a parody of Gekko Kamen. It was originally a joke that Nagai sent to his editor expecting him to reject it. His editor, however, loved the idea and that started Kekko Kamen. As well as the similarity in name, both Kekko Kamen's and Gekko Kamen's true identity is never revealed. Even the name of the main antagonist is a parody: in Gekko Kamen it's Claw of Satan (サタンの爪, Satan no Tsume?) while in Kekko Kamen it's Toenail of Satan (サタンの足の爪, Satan no Ashi no Tsume?). Ten live-action films have been made of Kekko Kamen, along with one OVA series. A photobook has also been made, featuring a martial artist as Kekko Kamen. A sequel photobook featuring Kekko Kamen's daughter, Kurenai Kamen, has also been made. The theme song for Kekko Kamen (used in anime and tokusatsu adaptations as well as the original manga) uses the same lyrics for the theme song to Moonlight Mask, but with changes. Media Manga Kekko Kamen was originally serialized in Shueisha's magazine Monthly Shōnen Jump, from September 1974 (1974-09) to February 1978 (1978-02). The series has been compiled several times by Shueisha and other publishers. *'Shueisha' (Jump Comics, 1976–1978) *'Shueisha' (Jump Comics Deluxe, 1990) *'Kadokawa Shoten' (Kadokawa Bunko, 1996) *'Kodansha' (Kodansha Comics Deluxe, 2003) *'LEED' (SP Comics, 2004) The series is also available in ebook format, published by ebookjapan. Releases outside Japan The manga is being published in Italy by d/visual. *'d/visual' (Go Nagai presents, 2006-ongoing) Anime Episodes Staff & cast *Distributor: Nippon Columbia *Animation work: Studio Signal *Production: Nippon Columbia, Dynamic Planning, Studio Signal *Original work: Go Nagai *Director: Nobuhiro Kondo (vol. 1), Kinji Yoshimoto (vol. 2) *Scenario: Masashi Sogo *Art director: Mitsuharu Miyamae *Chief animation director/character design: Satoshi Hirayama *Sound director: Yoshikazu Iwanami *Music: Keiju Ishikawa *Theme songs: **''Kekko Kamen no Uta'' (けっこう仮面の歌, kekkō kamen no Uta?, The song of Kekko Kamen)(lyrics by Go Nagai, composition and arrangement by Keiju Ishikawa, sung by Emi Shinohara) **''Morodashi Heroine Kekko Kamen'' (モロダシ・ヒロインけっこう仮面, morodashi hiroin kekkō kamen?, Naked heroine Kekko Kamen)(lyrics by Hiroshi Koenji, composition and arrangement by Keiju Ishikawa, sung by Emi Shinohara) *Cast: Emi Shinohara (Kekko Kamen), Arisa Ando (Mayumi Takahashi), Kikuko Inoue (Chigusa Yuka), Joji Yanami (Satan no Ashi no Tsume) Source(s) Releases The OVA series was initially released by Nippon Columbia in VHS format. It was released in DVD also by Columbia. Releases outside Japan The OVA was released in the United States subtitled in English in VHS format by ADV Films. ADV films also released the OVA in a single DVD which, beside the subtitles, also included dubbed audio. This version has also been re-released in bundled packages with other anime. The OVA was also released in a dubbed version in Italy in VHS by Dynamic Italia in 2000 under the name Kekko Kamen: La maschera libidinosa. Live-action films There have been ten live-action films dedicated to Kekko Kamen. Go Nagai has been intricately involved in the production of the films. The titles and order of the ten live-action Kekko Kamen films are as follows: *''Kekko Kamen'' (けっこう仮面)(1991) *''Kekko Kamen 2: We'll be back...'' (けっこう仮面２ Ｗｅ'ｌｌ ｂｅ ｂａｃｋ・・・)(1992) *''Kekko Kamen 3'' (けっこう仮面３ aka Kekko Kamen in Love)(1993) *''Kekko Kamen'' (けっこう仮面 aka Kekkou Kamen, Mask of Kekkou, Kekko Kamen New)(2004) *''Kekko Kamen: Mangriffon no Gyakushu'' (けっこう仮面 マングリフォンの逆襲, also known as Kekko Kamen: The MGF Strikes Back)(2004) *''Kekko Kamen Returns'' (けっこう仮面 ＲＥＴＵＲＮＳ)(2004) *''Kekko Kamen Surprise'' (けっこう仮面 ＳＵＲＰＲＩＳＥ)(2004) *''Kekko Kamen Royale'' (けっこう仮面 ロワイヤル)(2007) *''Kekko Kamen Premium'' (けっこう仮面 プレミアム)(2007) *''Kekko Kamen Forever'' (けっこう仮面 フォーエバー)(2007) Note that in both 1991 and 2004 films were produced under the simple title Kekko Kamen. In the West, the 2004 film is often differentiated from the original by the title Kekko Kamen New!. The first three and the last three films were released in direct-to-video format, while the four films of 2004 were theatrically released in Japan. Staff of Kekko Kamen (1991) *Studio: Japan Home Video *Director: Hikari Hayakawa *Producer: Naokatsu Ito, Ken Urasaki *Associate Producer: Yasutada Uemura *Original: Go Nagai *Writer: Hikari Hayakawa *Cinematography: Kazuhiko Nara *Manufacture: Tadao Masumizu *Illumination: Takeshi Nakasu *General supervision: Go Nagai *Art: Kiyoshi Kakui *Cast: Chris Aoki (Keiko Natsuwata / Kekko Kamen*), Paul Maki (Satan no Ashi no Tsume), Yumi Goto (Mayumi Takahashi), Tsutomu Sekine (special appearance), Suzumi Hanai (Yuka Chigusa), Michie Watanabe (Kaori Wakatsuki), Miyuki Sawamura (Akane Aoyama), Makiko Nagata (female student A), Shohei Yamamoto (Mujo no Suke), Pretty Nagashima (Tachibana-sensei), Moroka Moro The role of Kekko Kamen is credited as ?, to keep it as a secret as in the series. However, it is known that it was played by actress Chris Aoki. Staff of Kekko Kamen 2: We'll be back... (1992) *Studio: Japan Home Video *Director: Yutaka Akiyama *Producer: Naokatsu Ito *Original: Go Nagai *Writer: Yutaka Akiyama *Cinematography: Haruhi Taguchi *SFX: Hajime Matsumoto *Music: Masaya Abe *Theatrical combat: Satoru Fukasaku *Art: Akio Fukuda *Production: Japan Home Video, Dynamic Planning *Cast: Rie Nakano (Mayumi Takahashi), Mirei Asaoka (Koichi Omote), Chris Aoki (Keiko Natsuwata / Kekko Kamen*), Chika Matsui (Kaori Wakatsuki), Hajime Tsukumo (Satan no Ashi no Tsume), Jiro Dan, Akira Oizumi, Kenji Yamaguchi, Rie Kondo, Go Nagai (special appearance), Masatoshi Igarashi The role of Kekko Kamen is credited as ?, but it is known that it was played by actress Chris Aoki. Staff of Kekko Kamen 3 (1993) *Studio: Japan Home Video *Director: Yutaka Akiyama *Producer: Naokatsu Ito, Toji Kato, Gunya Sachimori *Original: Go Nagai *Writer: Yutaka Akiyama *Cinematography: Haruhi Taguchi *Music: Masaya Abe *Cooperation: Yasutada Uemura *Supervisor: Go Nagai *Illumination: Masakatsu Izumi *Audio: Kazuyuki Tsuchiya *Art: Akio Fukuda *Production: Matsushita Promotion, Japan Home Video, Dynamic Planning *Costume player: Ippongi Bang *Cast: Asami Katsuragi (Mayumi Takahashi), Mayumi Yoshioka, Mayumi Takahashi, Chika Matsui (Kaori Wakatsuki), Chris Aoki (Keiko Natsuwata / Kekko Kamen*), Rie Kondo, Mayumi Ozaki, Hajime Tsukumo (Satan no Ashi no Tsume), Akira Oizumi, Shun Sugata, Ai Ichinoki, Takayasu Komiya The role of Kekko Kamen is credited as ?, but it is known that it was played by actress Chris Aoki. Staff of Kekko Kamen (2004) *Studio: Art Port *Director: Takafumi Nagamine *Producer: Shin Yoneyama *Executive producer: Junichi Matsushita *Associate producer: Shigeyuki Fukushima *Planning: Toji Kato *Original: Go Nagai *Writer: Yuki Okano *Cinematography: Eiichi Osawa, Toshiya Onishi *Art: Akira Ishige *Music: Mari Shimizu *Cooperation: Dynamic Planning *Cast: Shino Saito (Keiko Natsuwata / Kekko Kamen*), Juri Inahara (Mayumi Takahashi), Moa Arimoto (Wakana Nakai), Ren Suzuki (Kyoichi Furusawa), Nao Yuasa (Jun Takenochi), Hiromi Nagayama (Akira Oshima), Hiromitsu Suzuki, Kenjiro Ishimaru, Hideo Sako (Kajiro Suto), Satoshi Wada (Shatai Osuo), Nao Eguchi, Fang Suzuki, Keiko Kubo (Mizuho Sakuragi), Go Nagai (as himself) The role of Kekko Kamen is credited as ? in the Japanese credits, but it is known that it was played by actress Shino Saito. Staff of Kekko Kamen: Mangriffon no Gyakushu (2004) *Studio: Art Port *Director: Takafumi Nagamine *Producer: Shin Yoneyama *Executive producer: Junichi Matsushita *Associate producer: Shigeyuki Fukushima *Planning: Toji Kato *Original: Go Nagai *Writer: Yuki Okano, Keiichi Sakano *Cinematography: Eiichi Osawa, Toshiya Onishi *Art: Akira Ishige *Music: Mari Shimizu *Cooperation: Dynamic Planning *Cast: Shino Saito (Keiko Natsuwata / Kekko Kamen*), Juri Inahara (Mayumi Takahashi), Maho (Chiyoko Nakamura), Tomomi Tsubaki (Natsumi Shibuya), Noriko Higashide (Gozo Kamao), Shinichi Oshima (Chutaro Sasaki), Keiko Kubo (Mizuho Sakuragi), Kenjiro Ishimaru, Hiromitsu Suzuki (Allsa Berdo / Dean), Moa Arimoto (Wakana Nakai), Nao Yuasa (Jun Takenochi), Ren Suzuki (Kyoichi Furusawa), Hiromi Nagayama (Akira Oshima), Hideo Sako (Kajiro Suto), Nao Eguchi (Shino Nakada child), Satoshi Wada (Shatai Osuo), Fang Suzuki (Fuko Kuremusa), Natsume Sano (Eri Saito), Karin (Sakura Oki), Kazuki Yamamoto (Mineto Osaki), Takuya Suzuki (Kurt Hining) The role of Kekko Kamen is credited as ? in the Japanese credits, but it is known that it was played by actress Shino Saito. Staff of Kekko Kamen Returns (2004) *Studio: Art Port *Director: Takafumi Nagamine *Producer: Shin Yoneyama *Executive producer: Junichi Matsushita *Associate producer: Shigeyuki Fukushima *Planning: Toji Kato *Original: Go Nagai *Writer: Yuki Okano *Cinematography: Eiichi Osawa, Toshiya Onishi *Art: Akira Ishige *Music: Mari Shimizu *Assistant director: Tatsuya Yamamoto *Cooperation: Dynamic Planning *Cast: Misaki (Kaori Wakatsuki/Kekko Kamen*), Aki Hoshino (Mayumi Takahama), Kenjiro Ishimaru (Seijin Mizuki), Tomomi Yoshino (Ayana Isono), Nana Usami (Yoko Hirano), Taichi Yamada (Iya~n Soap), Shinichi Oshima (Odajima), Ryuji Komiya (Kai Atsuta), Yumi Uchida, Maiko Tanaka, Mika Ojima, Akira Sakamoto The role of Kekko Kamen is credited as ? in the Japanese credits, but it is known that it was played by actress Misaki Mori (credited as Misaki). Staff of Kekko Kamen Surprise (2004) *Studio: Art Port *Director: Takafumi Nagamine *Producer: Shin Yoneyama *Executive producer: Junichi Matsushita *Associate producer: Shigeyuki Fukushima *Planning: Toji Kato *Original: Go Nagai *Writer: Yuki Okano *Cinematography: Eiichi Osawa, Toshiya Onishi *Art: Akira Ishige *Music: Mari Shimizu *Assistant director: Tatsuya Yamamoto *Edition: Takahiro Watanabe *Illumination: Michinori Tsuda *Cooperation: Dynamic Planning *Cast: Misaki Mori (Kaori Wakatsuki/Kekko Kamen*), Aki Hoshino (Mayumi Uchita), Maki Yamakaw (Ritsuko Chono), Shoichiro Akaboshi, Kenjiro Ishimaru (big villain), Noriko Higashide (Kiyomi Otonashi), Risa Uemura (Kyoko Tsuruno), Nana Kasai (Risa Utagawa), Jiro Dan (Commanding officer), Tomoaki Hayashishita (Norio Fueki), Joji Yokozawa (Tsutomu Betto) The role of Kekko Kamen is credited as ? in the Japanese credits, but it is known that it was played by actress Misaki Mori (credited as Misaki). Staff of Kekko Kamen Royale (2007) *Studio: Art Port *Director: Kosuke Suzuki *Manufacturing: Junichi Matsushita *Original work: Go Nagai *Writer: Rui Tsubota *Cinematography: Nobuhisa Ito *Music: Koji Endo *Cast: Maria Ozawa (Chigusa Yuka/Kekko Kamen), Hitomi Kitamura (Mayumi Takahashi), Nene (Keiko Natsuwata), Sasa Handa (Koichi Omote), Koichi Obori, Masashi Kumada, Yoshiyuki Morishita, Nocchi (Satan no Ashi no Tsume) Staff of Kekko Kamen Premium (2007) *Studio: Art Port *Director: Kosuke Suzuki *Manufacturing: Junichi Matsushita *Original work: Go Nagai *Writer: Rui Tsubota *Cinematography: Nobuhisa Ito *Music: Koji Endo *Cast: Maria Ozawa (Chigusa Yuka/Kekko Kamen), Hitomi Kitamura (Mayumi Takahashi), Nene (Keiko Natsuwata), Sasa Handa (Koichi Omote), Nocchi (Satan no Ashi no Tsume), Koichi Obori, Akio Seki, Yoshiharu Hayashi Staff of Kekko Kamen Forever (2007) *Studio: Art Port *Director: Kosuke Suzuki *Manufacturing: Junichi Matsushita *Original work: Go Nagai *Writer: Rui Tsubota *Cinematography: Nobuhisa Ito *Music: Koji Endo *Cast: Maria Ozawa (Chigusa Yuka/Kekko Kamen), Hitomi Kitamura (Mayumi Takahashi), Nene (Keiko Natsuwata), Sasa Handa (Koichi Omote), Nocchi (Satan no Ashi no Tsume), Koichi Obori, Kenichi Endo, Karika Staff of Mask the Kekkou : Reborn (2012) *Studio: *Director: *Manufacturing: *Original work: Go Nagai *Writer: Kiminori Komatsu *Cinematography: Nozomu Kasagi *Music: *Cast: Aino Kishi, Yoshifumi Aoki, Rei Toda, Keigo Kasuya, Takanori Suzuka Short stories and sequels Kekko Kamen P Kekko Kamen P (けっこう仮面P, kekkō kamen p?) is manga written by Shigemitsu Harada and drawn by Seiju Minato, originally published by Kodansha in Weekly Young Magazine from 2003 (2003) to 2004 (2004). It's a sequel of the original series, where several years have passed since the events depicted in the first manga. Momoka Nogami discovers the legend of the original Kekko Kamen and decides to emulate her actions donning a similar costume, adding a peach motif, and so she becomes Kekko Kamen Peach. Other Kekko also appear, Kekko Kamen Lemon and Kekko Kamen Melon, and even a male version called Kekko Kamen Banana. The Excellent - Kekko Kamen Gaiden A special story written by Shinobu Inokuma with co-operation from Nagai, in a seinen magazine Business Jump called "The Excellent - Kekko Kamen Gaiden" (THE エクセレント ～けっこう仮面外伝～) where it takes place many years after the original manga story where a new kekko kamen (similar to the original but with a different mask, a known identity and a transformation similar to any magical girl genre) whose secret identity is a new teacher in a new high school owned by the remaining factions of the Toenail of Satan protects young female students from the evil members of the organisation unfortunately one of them caught her and held her prisoner until the original kekko kamen rescued her and they both defeated him, the original kekko kamen tells her successor that some of the remains of the toenail of Satan may have spread all over the world and that she will keep on fighting alone but she was proud of her successor that if she's gone she and her successors after her will always protect the young female women from evil by using her namesake. Parodies *''Angel Blade'' is a hentai parody produced in the Vanilla Series. Notes American heavy metal musician Rob Zombie used clips of Kekko Kamen during the 2010 Mayhem Festival tour during the song Never Gonna Stop (The Red Red Kroovy). Crossover A new manga one-shot featuring Kekko Kamen and Mazinger Z was published on January 16, 2013. Category:Ecchi Category:Comedy